On October 9, Cottage Health hosted a reception in the Compton Courtyard for about 150 major donors to celebrate the completion of the final phase of new construction of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. The capital campaign raised $110 million from more than 6,000 donors for the $820 million project. Construction began in 2005 and all new construction is now complete. The only remaining work is the renovation of the existing emergency room, which will take place over the next two years.
President and CEO Ron Werft welcomed the guests and shared how in 1888, a group of women raised $6,000 to build the first Cottage Hospital. This translates into $2.7 million in today’s dollars — an impressive feat for a town that had only 3,500 residents. The women’s biggest fundraiser was selling cigarettes.
Werft explained how there was a State mandate following the 1995 Northridge earthquake for hospitals to rebuild or retrofit to withstand a 7.0 earthquake but that no federal, state, or local funds were provided with the mandate. He shared how having a construction project that stretched over eight phases and 14 years while the hospital continued its operations presented its challenges, but lauded staff and all those in the construction endeavor for their excellent work.